Qld rapist gets 17 years in jail
A woman repeatedly raped as a child more than 20 years ago says the agonising assaults have left "disgusting memories" burnt into her mind.
Suriya Choomwantha raped and forced the girl to perform fellatio so many times for nearly 10 years from when she was four, she couldn't remember them all, the Brisbane District Court was told on Monday.
The court heard Choomwantha, now 55, made the girl take a pill to prevent falling pregnant after raping her when she was 13.
Sentencing Choomwantha to 17 years jail on Monday, Judge Leanne Clare told him he had repeatedly committed "heinous offences".
"You were bold and cruel and you would degrade her at any opportunity," Judge Clare said.
"It is impossible to imagine the trauma of it."
Judge Clare said penetration rapes and forced fellatio had occurred too many times for the girl to remember.
"The things she could remember ... were the callousness with which you treated her, the rough handling and the terrible pain you caused," she said.
She said the victim had "a vivid memory of the agony" of one rape 30 years later.
"It is unthinkable someone could do that to another human being."
Choomwantha, aged in his 20s and early 30s during these offences, was 46 when convicted of raping another child in 2010.
Choomwantha is already in prison for raping that five-year-old girl at a child's birthday party, the court heard.
Judge Clare sentenced Choomwantha on Monday to a cumulative sentence of 17 years in jail.
He will be eligible for parole in 2025.
Choomwantha, who is from Thailand but has lived in Australia since 1980, was assisted by an interpreter during the trial.
